UN Authority Figures

UN Committee on Information: Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia's Supreme Court has upheld the sentence of 1,000 lashes and 10 years of imprisonment on blogger Raif Badawi, who was arrested in 2012 and charged with "insulting Islam through electronic channels".
Source: BBC News, June 7, 2015

Mission of the Committee on Information: "...To promote the establishment of a new, more just and more effective world information and communication order intended to strengthen peace and international understanding and based on the free circulation and wider and better-balanced dissemination of information and to make recommendations thereon to the General Assembly." (Committee on Information website, "About the Committee")

Saudi Arabia's Term of office: 2003 (P.3, Para 16) - current

Saudi Arabia's Record on Freedom of Information:
"Civil law does not protect human rights, including freedoms of speech and of the press; only local interpretation and the practice of sharia protect these rights. There were frequent reports of restrictions on free speech. The Basic Law specifies "mass media and all other vehicles of expression shall employ civil and polite language, contribute towards the education of the nation, and strengthen unity. The media is prohibited from committing acts that lead to disorder and division, affect the security of the state or its public relations, or undermine human dignity and rights." Authorities are responsible for regulating and determining which speech or expression undermines internal security... The government charged those using the internet to express dissent with subversion, blasphemy, and apostasy. Freedom of Speech: The government monitored public expressions of opinion and took advantage of legal controls to impede the free expression of opinion and restrict those verging on the political sphere. The government prohibits public employees from directly or indirectly engaging in dialogue with local or foreign media or participating in any meetings intended to oppose state policies. The law forbids apostasy and blasphemy, which legally can carry the death penalty, although there have not been any recent instances of death sentences for these crimes. Statements authorities construed as constituting defamation of the king, monarchy, governing system, or the al-Saud family resulted in criminal charges for several Saudis advocating government reform. The government charged a number of individuals with crimes related to their exercise of free speech during the year... Authorities subjected journalists to arrests, imprisonment, and harassment during the year."
(U.S. State Department's Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2014, Saudi Arabia)